Our school is asked to cover expenses for medical bills associated with an incident or damaged/lost personal property that occurred at school. Should the school agree to pay such costs?
The issue of reimbursing persons for medical fees incurred due to alleged injury while at work is a question of overall policy and judgement in individual cases. The SCA advices are that ex-gratia payments to injured individuals in respect of out of pocket medical expenses should be subject to:
An overall policy with a specific monetary limit applicable; and
A specific adjudication in individual, meritorious cases where the specific monetary limit is to be exceeded for bona fide reasons.
The payment of incurred out of pocket expenses in cases of injury at work, by employees, where it is done on a policy basis, often prevents a legal claim which might otherwise arise.
The school is however under no obligation to make such a contribution, and if they decide to do so, together with a formal statement as set out below, then this is not an admission of liability but is a good will gesture on the part of the school in the circumstance. Many Delegated State Authorities consider making such contributions on a good will basis when the facts of the matter are clear and justified to management.
Sample formal statement
[School name] has reviewed the circumstance concerning the incident which occurred on xx Month, Year resulting in you sustaining personal loss. [School name] is mindful of the costs incurred by you and have decided to make a one-off ex-gratia payment towards this costs resulting from this incident. This payment is strictly on a without prejudice and without admission of liability basis.
What is important, however, it to establish a definite and consistent policy approach to payment of expense and their payment must always be made on an ex-gratia basis only, without admission of any liability.
Damage to, or loss of third party property damage is only covered under State indemnity where the school is negligent. In this circumstance, the party who suffers such a loss is entitled to pursue a claim in negligence against the school and those claims will be handled by the State Claims Agency (SCA). It is important to note that unless the loss of or damage to the personal property was caused by a negligent act or omission by the school then State Indemnity will not operate to cover or reimburse such losses and it is again a matter for school to decide if they wish to make a contribution towards the cost of replacing the personal property either in part or full.